Ask Jeeves SEM Time Line of Events

Ask Jeeves is one of the older search engines that are still around. Last week it just turned 8 years old. So I thought it would be fun to provide a SEM Time Line of Events for the Search Engine we have all loved to have around. The earlier parts of this time line have been borrowed from http://sp.ask.com/do...evesinc/p2.html, but most of the more recent events (within 2 years) are from my blog. It is a bit of a shame, since I was planning this post for about two weeks, and now Ask Jeeves blogged about the earlier days, but that is ok. I will hopefully update this as topics of interest spring up at Ask.

1998- Ask Jeeves for Kids (AJKids.com) launched in February of 1998 click here for logo- In October of 1998, Ask Jeeves reached 300,000 searches per day and Ask signed its first syndication deal with Alta Vista

1999- In January of 1999 Ask Jeeves began answering 700,000 searches a day and was up to 1 million searches by May and 2 million by October of the same year.- Ask Jeeves initial public offering in July of 1999 marked the 3rd most successful first day performance in history (at the time) and the company kicked off its first national advertising/branding campaign- Ask Jeeves moved to #31 in Media Metrix Top 50 in November of 1999, marking a 404% growth since January of that year- In December of 1999, Ask Jeeves launched Ask Jeeves International with joint venture to establish Ask Jeeves UK and the site officially launched in February of the following year. I believe they go International for the first time.

2000- DirectHit Technologies was acquired by Ask Jeeves in January of 2000 (The Search Engine that used click data for ranking purposes)- In March of 2000, Ask Jeeves conducted its secondary public offering and also advanced to the 15th most visited site in Media Metrix- Ask Jeeves added its “related search” functionality to Ask.com in May of 2000 (Beginning of realization that communities clusters are important?)- In November of 2000, Ask Jeeves introduced an online shopping advisor channel and Jeeves, the butler, became the first Internet character to be a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade picture of balloon

2001- In September 2001, Ask Jeeves made the pivotal decision to acquire Teoma Technologies and the company refocused operations on the user experience. When the Teoma technology was integrated into Ask.com in December of that year, the company saw an immediate 25% increase in user satisfaction. Many top search engine junkies fell in love with this technology.

2002- In the summer of 2002 Ask Jeeves introduced the Ask Jeeves Toolbar. During that time, Ask Jeeves also selected Google as its paid listing provider- In October 2002, Ask Jeeves lead the search industry when it discontinued all pop-up and pop-unders from Ask.com. The company soon after removed all banners from Ask.com

2003- In January 2003, Ask Jeeves announced its first profitable quarter for Q4 of 2002 and added Spell Check technology to Ask.com- Ask Jeeves launched its widely heralded Smart Search in April of 2003 – the intuitive new search tools and functionality were designed to help people conduct more satisfying and efficient searches (The 1st?)- In November of 2003, Ask Jeeves named Steve Berkowitz as CEO of Ask Jeeves - The company also launched Smart Search for Products- The company’s stock performance during 2003 spoke volumes to the turnaround of Ask Jeeves. Ask Jeeves was the 51st best-performing stock out of 3229 companies on the NASDAQ, and was the 7th best performing stock in the Bay Area for 2003. The price of Ask Jeeves stock soared more than 500% throughout the course of the year

2004- In May 2004, Ask Jeeves completed the acquisition of Interactive Search Holding, adding a diverse portfolio of websites, portals and desktop applications, all with search as their foundation. As a result of this acquisition, Ask Jeeves became a top ranked website, according to Nielson, Net Ratings, and the fastest growing search property on the Internet, according to Forrester Research- Binoculars Site Preview Tool announced by Ask on June 21st - Jeeves goes missing on September 14th, as a marketing ploy for Ask Jeeves - Personalized Search with MyJeeves announced on September 20th - Desktop Search released by Ask Jeeves on December 15th 2004

2005- Ask Jeeves launched a blog and JeevesGuy at SEO Forums uncovers mask, Kaushal Kurpati on February 3rd. - Bloglines acquired by Ask Jeeves on February 8th, Ask Jeeves makes a statement on importance of RSS and real time content- First TV commercials released, some starting American Idol’s William Hung on February 6th of this year - Firefox Toolbar released for Ask Jeeves on March 15, 2005 - Ask Jeeves launches Ask Jeeves Espana on April 5th of this year- Ask Jeeves adds features to MyJeeves (Toolbar integration, New Image Support & More Robust Information Management) press release- Ask Jeeves adds "Zoom" & "Web Answer" to SmartSearch Features on May 25, 2005.